Winter Gloves Steal The Show @ The Horseshoe Tavern

February 6th, 2009

This isn’t the time for bad pick-up lines. But if it was, I might want to know if synth-rockers Winter Gloves are thieves. Because somebody stole the show last night, and the Montreal-based four-piece ended up walking off stage with it firmly attached to their sweater-vests and funky hats.

In all fairness, respect must be paid to Everything All the Time, who opened with a startlingly impressive set for 9:30 (who knew you could fit that many keyboards/synths on stage at once?), and Ruby Coast, who had the crowd so riled up that several enthusiastic fans started a mosh pit in front of the stage two songs into their performance.

With that said, all I could think of when Winter Gloves kick-started their set with Factories was “…How is he [frontman Charles F.] rocking that tambourine so hard?” Wearing a pair of black box-frame glasses and coulda-been-lame-but-wasn’t yellow sweater-vest, Charles was looking like a version of Rivers Cuomo on Prozac and speed, and twirling his microphone around as if he just couldn’t keep still. The rest of the band – made up of Pat Sayers on drums, Vincent Chalifour on synths, and Jean-Michel Pigeon on guitar -followed suit (pardon the pun) in assorted pin-striped shirts and blazers.

The band maintained a frenetic pace as they pushed through an 11-song set that highlighted songs from their first LP, About A Girl. They didn’t seem to have much to say to the crowd, apart from a brief introduction (in a charming if faintly-there francophone accent) to the song We Need New Transportation as being “written for my friend Trevor”. But they made up for their silence with the kind of crazy energy that culminated with Charles finishing set-closer Invisible by playing a synth solo with his foot. Truly, it may be a good thing the band’s set lasted less than an hour – otherwise we may have lost a fantastic new Canadian band to spontaneous combustion.

Winter Gloves will be touring for the rest of the month, with stops in Hamilton tonight and Ottawa on Saturday, before playing a few shows in New York, Montreal, and Quebec City to finish off the month. Catch them if you can – and try not to let them steal your heart.

Tour Dates:
February 6 @ The Pepper Jack, Hamilton
February 7 @ Mavericks, Ottawa
February 13 @ Les Saints, Montreal
February 24 @ Pianos, New York
February 27 @ Le Cercle, Quebec City

Winter Gloves Setlist – Thursday, February 5 @ The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto
Factories
Let Me Drive
About a Girl
Hillside
We Need New Transportation
Tooth Fairy
Party People
Piano 4 Hands
I Can’t Tell You
Jump
Invisible

Links:
MySpace: Winter Gloves

Posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 1:52 pm by Jessica and is filed under Concerts & Events.